Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a liquid discharge head and a liquid discharge method, and more particularly relates to a configuration near a discharge orifice that discharges liquid.
Description of the Related Art
Droplets discharged from a liquid discharge head such as an inkjet head generally separate into a main droplet and accompanying sub-droplets (hereinafter, also referred to as “satellites”) upon being discharged. The main droplet lands at the intended position on the recording medium, but controlling the landing positions of satellites is difficult. Satellites may account for conspicuous deterioration in recording image quality with liquid discharge heads of which high throughput is demanded. Particularly fine satellites do not reach the recording medium, and become floating ink droplets (hereinafter, also referred to as “mist”). Mist may soil the recording apparatus, and this contamination of the recording medium may be transferred to the recording medium and soil the recording medium.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-290380 discloses a method of reducing occurrence of satellites by forming discharge orifices as shapes other than circles, in order to prevent deterioration of image quality due to satellites. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0205303 discloses a method where the distance between recording elements and discharge orifices is made shorter to reduce the length of the droplet (hereinafter, also referred to as “tail length”), thereby reducing occurrence of satellites. However, studies made by the Present Inventor have shown that the configurations of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-290380 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0205303 do not realize further reduction in the tail length. This has let to recognition of a new problem regarding how difficult it is to control satellites.
It has been found desirable to provide a liquid discharge head and liquid discharge method capable of reducing the tail length of droplets.